Over the years, I have translated quite a few Shers on this blog. A few times I have even mentioned not being able to translate some. This post is among one of those times when it just seems impossible to capture the beauty, the clarity, the intent, the nuance, the simplicity, the truth, the wordplay of the original Sher.
Let us start with two Shers by Shabina Adeeb:
यही बात खु़द समझना, यही बात आम करना
जो गुरूर में हो डूबा उसे मत सलाम
करना
मैं बस इतना चाहती हूँ रहे चैन ज़िंदगी में
न बहुत खुशी लुटाना न सुकून हराम
करना
The second Sher takes some time to understand and once you understand it, it takes even longer to come out of the depth it has plunged you into! Even more frustrating than that, is my brain’s refusal to translate its last line, so I think even transliterating this Sher into English just serves no point. Moving beyond my incompetence, a recital of these Shers by the poetess herself is linked above, but someone else “copied” her performance quite well! Witness it for yourself…
Moving on to another poet, let's read some Shers of a Ghazal by Dr. Nawaz Deobandi:
दुनिया खड़ी हो रस्ते में, फिर हमको इससे क्या?
जब वो नहीं दरीचे में, फिर
हमको इससे क्या?
जो दुःख में काम आए ना सुख में शरीक हो
लगता हो कुछ भी रिस्ते में, फिर
हमको इससे क्या?
जब आप हक़ के साथ खड़े ही नहीं हुए
हुजरे में थे के मुजरे में, फिर हमको इससे
क्या?
–नवाज़ देवबंदी
These Shers again are in a class of their own. It is very much a tautology that it is hard to translate this Ghazal. Especially, the last Sher, where the two similar-sounding words – हुजरे (prayer / meditation room) & मुजरे (music / dance performance) – are used so judiciously, so effectively, that it elevates the first line to a witty slogan filled with so much barb that a barbed fence could be constructed out of it! The second Sher feels like it says something common; one might even mistake it for the well-known idiom “a friend in need is a friend indeed”, but how wrong can one get! It not only elevates the common saying but surpasses it to make poetry by invoking not just the “need” but also “happiness”. This Sher demands a relation to work in both gloom and bliss! What a marvelous philosophy.
Technically, even trying to translate the Radif (refrain) gives me shivers. Could it be “What do I care?”. Anyway, the first Sher is simple in that sense compared to the other two, but I don’t think I want to translate it because it just feels weird in translation! See for yourself: “The world is in my way, what do I care?; When (s)he’s not at the window, what do I care?”. It remains beautiful in the original. Here is the first(?) recital of this Ghazal (along with many more)
